July 19, 2023
Japan Atomic Energy Agency

Demonstrating Japanese HTGR technologies in collaboration with the UK
- Participation in the UK HTGR Demonstration Reactor Programme
and Coated Particle Fuel Programme -

To achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the UK government launched the HTGR (High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor) demonstration reactor competition in September 2022. This programme is carried out in three steps: Phase A (Pre-FEED, completed in February 2023), Phase B (FEED, to be completed in 2025), and Phase C (Permissioning, construction and operation of HTGR in the early 2030s). On 18th July 2023, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) announced that National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and JAEA (Japan Atomic Energy Agency) team was selected as one of the project entities to implement the Phase B reactor project.

In parallel, DESNZ also announced that Phase B will also push the development of an advanced fuel required for AMRs, through the Coated Particle Fuel (CPF) – Step 1 Programme. NNL, working with JAEA, has been selected by DESNZ to deliver this fuels programme which will build expertise, knowledge and collaboration on coated particle fuel fabrication and scale-up activities.

JAEA and NNL will enter into the collaboration agreements for the implementation of Phase B reactor and Step 1 CPF.

The Governments of UK and Japan expect HTGRs to contribute to the decarbonization through the supplement of hydrogen and high-temperature steam to the processing, steelmaking and chemical industries considered difficult to decarbonize, to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. JAEA will collaborate with NNL to demonstrate Japanese HTGR technology outside of Japan and to promote its social implementation with the aim of returning the decarbonization technology to Japan.